HOTEL owners and bar owners in the northern Nigerian city of Kano have threatened to take ‘self-defence’ measures against Islamic militants who have destroyed hundreds of gallons of alcohol in recent days. Members of the Hisbah, a state-backed Islamic vigilante group that enforces implementation of the strict Islamic code, the Sharia, in northern Nigeria, at the weekend destroyed more than 1_000 cartons of beer in Kano. “Should the state government fail to pay for damages incurred by our members … we will take to self-defence against further assault from the Hisbah,” hoteliers’ representative George Ashiokhanele told reporters on Monday. “The act of vandalisation carried out against us in the name of Sharia implementation is an act of religious terrorism,” he stated. – AFP